Relay Team Flower Power!
Yesterday I ran on a 4 person relay team for the Minneapolis Marathon and it was fantastic! My leg of the relay was 5.1 miles and I ran at a 13:19 pace, which is the fastest I have done since hurting my back 3 weeks ago and the LONGEST DISTANCE I have run since last September when I did a 10K.
I get such a great rush from wanting to do the best I can for my team, just the whole race atmosphere…a bunch of other people also trying to do their best AND tons of support and cheers, and just looking forward to celebrating at the end!!!
My leg was so pretty…I ran on streets, walking paths, bridges and a brick road. There were a couple hills, which I chose to walk up instead of run…I think that helped me keep my pace versus hurt me. I took a couple walking breaks towards the end while watching my overall pace so I’d only lose a few seconds..which I instantly regained once I started running again (30 seconds of recovery is sometimes all we need to keep going strong!)
Hitching a Ride from Relay Exchange 1 to 2!
My team overall did a fantastic job as well. We all came in faster than our predicted paces AND we finished the marathon 26 minutes sooner than we thought we would, beating our record from last year! 
We were all feeling a bit nervous about our run this year since we haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to training as we did last year. Despite the hiccups in training, we all got our finishers medals and were super proud of ourselves at the end of the day.
I just love that rush of pride and joy of accomplishment at the end of a race and its 1 million times better when you did it with a team!
Not only were RUNNERS part of our team though, we had good friends Kris and Corryn providing tremendous support. We didn’t have to worry about taking relay shuttles, riding the light rail, parking our own cars, or even checking/lugging our gear around.
I truly hope this kicks of a fantastic rest of the summer and into fall running streak I’m going to keep doing lots of stretching before and after races and I’ll be kicking up my cross-training, too! I’m looking forward to getting my pace back to where it was early in the year AND to improving even more!
My next race is a 5K, its the Color Run here in the Twin Cities in July and I’m very much looking forward to it!
Oh, and as an update with my Emily Program treatment…I have been feeling much more confident with myself and my choices…its a slow process, but I feel myself getting better. Positive attitude, which is enhanced by working out helps!!
<3 Merbear
